Selective Minds
by Local-dragon-haunt
Summary: (Oneshot!) Before the events of Dipper and Mabel's eventful summer, Ford stumbled across a dimension filled with dragon riding Vikings, and bonded with a boy named Hiccup, who reminded him so much of himself: adventurous, smart, somewhat reclusive... But sometimes, even the strongest minds break...(set after httyd2, based off of a comic I found on Instagram *leshrug*)


**A/N so this is basically based off of a comic I found in Instagram, the main artist is probably on tumblr somewhere I couldn't trace it back to the source, sorry. I also don't know if there was more to it or not because you know how Instagram can be sometimes. This may have been done before, but here's my version if it has! Some Ford/Hiccup Father son fluff for y'all.**

Stanford Pines was worried.

Granted, he had been worried plenty of times before, especially growing up with a certain twin of his, but he was really worried. He tapped his hand on the wooden table in front of him and set down his pencil, standing up and looking out the window and up to the sky. The sun was sinking low to the horizon, turning the ocean into a fiery scarlet pool, but Ford didn't stop to enjoy the view. He was looking for something, or rather someone, who should have been home hours ago.

He had been in this certain dimension for a year now, finding it a lot nicer than the others in the multiverse that he had encountered...despite the fact that, for a lack of better words, it was infested with dragons.

Yup, dragons.

There was a distant sound of flapping wings as a couple dragons flew overhead of the man, a Monstrous Nightmare and a Deadly Nadder. But those weren't what Ford was looking for, and instead had the man cursing them internally for giving him a false sense of hope.

Of course, he had heard of and attempted to study the elusive fire breathing reptiles when he was back in Gravity Falls, because he sure as hell knew that they were there somewhere in that valley so many dimensions away, but could never find any. So when he first appeared in this dimension, he was ecstatic to start studying them-

...only to find out some twenty year old Viking had done it for him already.

Ford sighed, grumbling slightly at seeing nothing but clouds, before trudging back over to his chair and sitting down, resting his head in his hands.

The kid had been scrawny, to say the least. Especially for Viking standards. Ford had seen right through the leather suit the kid had worn (he had made a quip about the boy's shoulder pads when he first met him) but the flaming sword the boy called 'Inferno' had shut him up real quick. That and the black dragon he would later learn was a Night Fury that was growling threateningly at the boy's side.

Despite the rough meeting, the two had hit it off real quick. Something about the glint in his forest green eyes sparked something in Ford. They were the eyes of an inventor, the eyes of someone who wanted more in life, someone with a natural thirst for knowledge. Ford couldn't help but think it was fate that they had met. They, quite literally, we're like father and son.

But it was such a shame to think like that.

Because the boy's father had died saving his son's life roughly a half year ago, Ford had learned a few months after having arrived in this dimension from the boy's mother, Valka, whom, he'd also learned, was presumed dead till roughly that long ago, too.

There was a sudden unmistakable roar that pierced the quiet evening, and Ford instantly shot up. He jolted to the door with speed that someone his age shouldn't be capable of, and looked up, just in time to see Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and his dragon, (ironically named) Toothless, land in the middle of the village. His arrival was promptly followed by cheers of "Welcome back, chief!" And "Good to see you've survived another day, chief!" From passing villagers.

Oh yeah. He forgot to mention.

The boy in question was chief of his village.

Ford let out a sigh of relief and annoyance alike, before stepping out of his hut and making his way over to Hiccup, who brightened up the instant he saw the older man. He ran his hand through his auburn hair, shaking it out, before hopping off of his dragon.

"Hey, Ford! What's up?" He asked, switching the peg leg on his left foot into the 'walking' mode.

Ford crossed his arms over his chest and cast a stern look at Hiccup. "Where were you, you should have been back at noon!" He demanded.

Hiccup pressed his lips together, hunching his shoulders and walking into the forge, which was the hut in question that Ford had walked out of a few seconds ago. "Nowhere, Ford, nowhere. The new dragon we encountered was a bit stronger than we anticipated, nothing to get worried over."

Ford followed the Viking into the hut, watching as the twenty year old took out Inferno, which the older man realized with no small amount of annoyance that it was beat up, as if it had gotten squished in between something. "It obviously is something to get worried over if you return home seven hours later than you should have, and with a ruined sword, at that." He said, adjusting his glasses.

Hiccup sighed, picking up a hammer and moving across the room, avoiding eye contact with the man. "Look Ford, I'm completely fine! The only person that got close to getting injured were Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and you know how much they love pain." He said, turning back to his sword and working on fixing it.

Ford grumbled to himself, and walked into the back room, picking up one of his journals and putting it in his trench coat. By the time he walked back out, Hiccup was done fixing Inferno, putting it back at his side.

"You still should have called for backup, going after a dragon you barely knew like that was extremely irresponsible, this isn't the Edge, boy." He continued.

Hiccup sighed, obviously getting annoyed. "I'm gonna head to the Mead Hall, you want to join me?" He said, rubbing Toothless' head, who had joined his rider when Ford was getting his journal.

Ford shook his head, and started when Hiccup quickly walked out of the forge and into the village, obviously trying to ditch the subject. The man followed the auburn-haired boy into the cool night air, as the sun had just slipped below the horizon. He slowed to a walk when he caught up to the auburn-haired boy.

"What you did was dangerous and reckless, Hiccup!" He insisted, throwing his left hand out to drive his point.

Hiccup let out a huff of breath, not bothering to look at the man and rolling his eyes, quite irritated and obviously not in the mood right now. "Okay, dad, I'll try and be more careful, jeez." He growled, before what he said sunk in, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Hiccup's face was one of pure terror as he turned to Ford, who had stopped as soon as he heard what the boy had called him, an astonished look plastered to his aging face.

Hiccup instantly gasped and buried his face in his hands. "O-oh Gods, I'm so sorry!" He said, face tilting towards the ground and a blush making it's way to his cheeks.

Ford was shaking his head before Hiccup even finished the sentence, holding his hands out in front of him. "No, no i-it's..."

The words died in his throat as he heard a choking sound coming from the boy in front of him, followed by a whimper. Ford blinked, and hesitated slightly before bringing his hands up to Hiccup's, which were still pressed against his face.

"...Hiccup?"

He carefully wrapped his six fingered hands around the boy's wrists, and brought them down from his face. Hiccup didn't protest, and his arms went limp the instant Ford started guiding them. The man's face instantly softened at what he saw.

Hiccup's cheeks were bright red, and already wet with the relentless stream of tears flowing down from his bloodshot eyes, despite the obvious effort the was trying to keep them at bay. He was biting his lip with such force that Ford was surprised it wasn't bleeding, and we was now shaking with the effort to keep his sobs inside.

"Oh, Hiccup." Ford whispered, furrowing his brow in sadness.

Hiccup shuttered as another forcefully silent sob wracked his body, before throwing himself at Ford, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and letting loose. Ford didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around the boy's torso, pulling him close.

They stayed like that for a couple minutes, Ford holding Hiccup close as he let out a long needed tears in agonizing sobs muffled by Ford's trench coat. The older man didn't say anything, just holding the boy up as he let loose his anguish, being a steady rock for him to hold on to.

Only when Hiccup seemed to calm down enough did Ford finally speak.

"...it's alright." He murmured, rubbing the boy's back.

He felt Hiccup shutter and cough before answering. "No it's not."

Ford looked down in concern, pressing his lips together. He was never good with feelings, even when he was growing up. "And why isn't it alright?" He decided to settle on.

Hiccup sniffed and coughed again, before shaking his head. "Every day I worry I'll disappoint him. That I'll let him down and disgrace his memory, a-and I...I just mistook you for him, I..." The boy trailed off, and Ford felt him stiffen, and feared he would start crying again, before the boy continued. "Y-you sound so much like him sometimes I...I miss him."

Ford felt a rush of sympathy towards the boy in his arms. He knew what that felt like, to miss someone, a dad, a mom,

A brother.

"I know." He replied softly, looking off into the night sky sadly, and he felt Hiccup shift to look up at him.

"What?" The boy asked confused, his voice raw from crying.

Ford looked down at him, lifting a hand up and brushing the messy hair out of the boy's green eyes to look at him better. He knew exactly how the boy felt. More than he could ever know. He had been feeling it for the past twenty-two years. Stanly had only been trying to reconnect with him, and he had pushed him away over a stupid project.

He didn't want Hiccup to go through the same pain he did. He knew that Hiccup was struggling, but he didn't want him to push away his family and friends, and most importantly the memory of his dad, away in trying to be the best chief he could...it was the least he could do in Stoick the Vast's memory. "...Hiccup, do you want to hear a story?" He asked after a couple moments.

Hiccup quirked an eyebrow, giving a curious look to the man. "What's it about?" He asked.

Ford chucked, pulling away from the boy, and beckoning him to sit down on a nearby rock. Hiccup obeyed, and Ford joined him. He stared up at the indigo sky, stars starting to appear as Ford was lost in thought. The man took a breath, looking around before turning back to Hiccup, who was staring at him with the same eyes that caused him to grow close to the boy in the first place.

"Well...it started about sixty years ago, in a far away land called New Jersey..."


End file.
